Chinese gaming’s crowning glory
Homegrown King Pro League caps stunning year with a final flourish
Booming battle drumbeats and the deafening roar of 11,000 psyched fans reverberate around Shenzhen Bay Sports Center — the sound of a stunning Chinese success story.
The cacophony is being created for the fall season final of the 2017 King Pro League (KPL) — an e-sports competition based on Tencent’s homegrown hit King of Glory, which has taken the country by storm.
“A year before, nobody knew if the KPL can go this far,” said KPL president and general manager of Tencent’s mobile e-sports department Zhang Yijia at the event on Saturday. “But a year later, we have witnessed the growth of the KPL from zero.”
“At the very beginning there were no viewers. Then there were 100. Then 1,000. Now, we can hear the roar of over 10,000 spectators cheering for their heroes at the stadium.”
As well as the fans in the arena, hundreds of millions others watched online as the QGhappy team completed a clean sweep of 2017’s titles by beating team XQ to win 1.2 million yuan (around $182,000).
The league, which was established in 2016, is yet another example of e-sports’ rapid rise and underlines the massive popularity of King of Glory in China.
Unlike other titles which form the basis of e-sports leagues, the mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game boasts a pure Chinese gene — it was developed here and features characters from Chinese history.
It has amassed 200 million registered users since its launch in 2015, while the KPL’s spring season live broadcasts were viewed a staggering 2.68 billion times.
King of Glory has garnered comparisons with another Tencent-operated MOBA title, League of Legends, which was created by American developer Riot Games.
Shifting battlegrounds
League of Legends still dominates the MOBA market for personal computers, but King of Glory is blazing a trail on mobile platforms as Chinese developers position themselves at the forefront of gaming’s latest revolution.
New developments in mobile technology mean e-sports decades-long dependence on the PC is waning, and China is leading the way in this shift.
“In the time of the PC game, countries like South Korea and the United States were taking the lead, and China was merely a follower,” explained Zhang.
“For mobile e-sports, however, we are so proud that China is at the vanguard.
“We went to Korea and held discussions with their e-sports organizers and game developers. They were surprised by our methods of developing mobile e-sports.
“We are taking the lead in the operation and development of mobile e-sports globally.”
Compared to PCs, mobile devices make it so much easier to engage in multiplayer competition and watch live e-sports events.
“A single MOBA game on a PC would normally take 40-50 minutes, but on the mobile end the number could be shortened to 15-20, which is more convenient for users,” said Zhang.
E-sports clubs also have much to gain from China’s mobile boom.
“We are entering a golden era of e-sports in China, and mobile e-sports is a very promising new branch of the business,” said Zhu Bo, the founder of QGhappy.
As well as the obvious portability advantage, Zhu believes that the simpler logic of games on mobile platforms means they can attract larger user numbers than PC versions. “According to our data for China’s e-sports market in 2017, the market scale of mobile e-sports accounts for 53.74 percent, surpassing the PC end,” said Zhu.
Although the KPL is thriving, there are still fears that the short shelf life of mobile games might be the Achilles heel of the league.
KPL president Zhang, however, is bullish about the league’s longevity and King of Glory’s continuing popularity.
“Ten years ago, we thought the life span of PC games would not be long enough, but the problem is overblown,” he said.
“For MOBA games, the competitive nature can sustainably attract fans.
“People will invest their love and loyalty into different clubs and players, just like you see in professional soccer and basketball leagues.”
Athletic endorsement
The State General Administration of Sport of China recognized electronic gaming as the country’s 99th sport in 2003 and has since organized a number of national e-sports competitions and exhibitions.
However, the debate over whether e-sports can be considered a sport still rages.
Leagues like the KPL appear to be helping the e-sports industry to win that argument.
One Chinese track-andfield star certainly reckons e-sports is worthy of inclusion among the traditional sporting sphere.
“E-sports is nothing different from traditional sports,” said sprinter Su Bingtian, who took part in a celebrity demonstration match before Saturday’s fall final duel.
“As long as the players step into the stadium, we are all longing to be the champion. E-sports players also have to make great sacrifices, devoting their youth to training just like traditional athletes.
“We should treat e-sports with an unbiased stance. I believe that Chinese e-sports will have a bright future.”
Some believe such recognition shows the industry owes a debt of gratitude to the older generations of gamers who toughed it out during e-sports’ darker days.
“I still remember that last generation of e-sports players before us suffered in a much worse environment,” said Zhang Yuchen, aka Lao Shuai, a professional KPL player for e-sports club AG Super Play.
“They had no clubs, no coaches and no Chineseowned e-sports leagues. All they could do was to spend their days in internet bars training and eating instant noodles, but we should remember that they fought for China’s glory in the foreign e-sports leagues.”
KPL owner Tencent has also been trying to promote e-sports by organizing events such as the China-US Exchange Forum On E-sports, which took place in September in the gaming lab of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, USA.
Discussing the topic “the positive values of e-sports”, the forum was attended by senior industry figures, broadcasters, academics, players, tournament organizers and publishers.